The islamic project. How and why can Russian Muslims unite?

The possible consolidation of Russian Muslims is one of the most pressing and important issues.
Today the Chairman of the Russian Mufties Council Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin answers the questions of the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta".
Rossiyskaya gazeta: Do Russian Muslim Organizations need today to unite?
Mufti Ravil Gainutdin: Russian Muslims for decades sought to find the unity lost after the Soviet Union Collapse.
But the process of uniting a divided for decades Ummah is not the case of a single day. We should consider not only the opinion of the three official religious Muslim structures, but the opinion of the Russian Muslim Ummah of many millions…
Discussing the possible options and models of consolidation we took into account the views of all the co-chairs and members of the RMC, leaders and representatives of the CRBM and CCMNC.
RG: What Muslim Organzation in your opinion is today the leading? Is it necessary to look for such leadership?
Gainutdin: As people say, "judge by deeds". Both the Ummah itself and our society as a whole know who is who in the Muslim community. The Ummah will not follow those who discredit Islam and Muslims, due to deeds and vices of whose we are all ashamed. Muslims today are mature and literate. And there is no need to artificially declare anyone as a leader, to assign leadership or to seek and achieve such leadership.
RG: How public opinion in Russian should consider a consolidated opinion of representatives of Russian Islam and should not consider as a common position the sharp and radical statements of some leaders?
Gainutdin: Islam is a very democratic religion. In it there can be different views on the same issue of Muslims, scholars and leaders. the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The difference of the opinions in my community is mercy". But this applies to normal everyday affairs. But as for the issues on which depend the fate of the entire Ummah, the people and the state, Scholars of Islam try to achieve a consolidated view, which in Arabic called "Ijma". And in the Islamic intellectual and legal heritage there are a huge number of such statements…
The consolidation will allow to get rid off the odious and unpredictable figures in the religious structures and enhance the credibility of the leaders of the traditional Islam that will allow system religious leaders, not leaders of the protest and informal activists, determine the trends and tendency of the Russian Muslim Community development.
RG: How the consolidation of Muslims can affect the change in the position of citizens of Arab and Muslim countries toward Russia?
Gainutdin: The new millennium for us, for the Russian Muslims became a full restoration of living ties with the global Muslim Ummah. One of the first confirmation of this was the historic speech of Vladimir Putin at the islamic Summit in Malaysia in autumn 2003. The current president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev during his visit to the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in July 2009 reaffirmed the policy of our country and turned to us, the Muslim leaders of Russia to continue the cooperation in this regard. We are confident that the consolidation would help to achieve a more adequate perception of Russia and stregthen its credibility in the Muslim world.

RG: What objective should the new organization strive for in the future to achieve the best results of cooperation between the religious boards of Muslims in all Russian regions?
Gainutdin: The consolidation will help to promote more effectively among Russian Muslims all-Russian Muslims projects. Among these projects are following: the All-Russian Islamic educational TV channel, the need of which was voiced by the Russian President D. Medvedev at the meeting with the Caucasian muftis in Sochi, as well as the formation of a unified system of religious education, which is already created with the help of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation through the Fund for the Support of Islamic culture, science and education.